Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch
Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 15, 2009
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 13
Osprey 7 83 89
Bald Eagle 12 72 90
Northern Harrier 18 83 108
Sharp-shinned Hawk 266 1694 1720
Cooper's Hawk 8 32 34
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0
Broad-winged Hawk 6324 11563 11590
Red-tailed Hawk 0 15 20
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 348 1352 1366
Merlin 2 32 35
Peregrine Falcon 3 14 17
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0
Unknown Buteo 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 0 0
Total: 6988 14940 15082
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 06:00:00
Observation end time: 15:00:00
Total observation time: 9 hours
Official Counter: Colin Horstead
Observers: Alf Rider, Dave Brown, Dave Weare, Jason McGuire, Jim Dunn,
Kathy, Keith Sealy, Mary Carnahan, Ronnie Goodhand
Visitors:
A few visitors today...want to thank Gil Randell and Jan from N.Y. (they
run the Ripley Hawkwatch)m Bill Read (Cambridge) and Pete Wade (T.O.) for
all the help spotting and helping tally birds today. There were several
other visitors today (hough I didn't get everyone's name) including Sally
and Cathy and a whole group of women.
Weather:
Today started with about as perfect hawkwatching weather as you could hope
for...light to moderate N to NW winds with great cumulous clouds popping up
as thermals built through the day. Temp was still on the warm side with a
high of 25. Unfortunately, about midday the winds swung 180 degrees to the
SE and our extremely promising slight evapourated along with the clouds.
Raptor Observations:
Fantastic flight throughout the morning with some of the best views of low
flying Broadwings so far this year. The visitors today were treated to some
good sized kettles witht the largest roughly 500 birds. Total raptors
tallied today was 6988. The Broadwing count was 6324 with the largest
1-hour count (4600) from 10-11 EST...but we also had a fairly constant
flight of KEstrels (348) and a decent flight of Sharpies (266). A nice
addition today...Peregrines (3)
Non-raptor Observations:
Good warblers around first thing in the morning with Palm, Blackburnian,
Magnolia, Nashville, Black and White, Chestnut-sided, Cape May, Blackpoll,
Bay-breasted, Am. Restart, Had E. Pewee, Red-eyed Vireo, Swainson's Thrush,
a group of 9 Borthern Flickers, a Common Nighthawk and a beautiful adult
Red-headed Woodpecker tha passed just to the north of the count site.
Predictions:
The powers that be are now predicting strong to moderate NE winds with sun
and cloud. Thereshould still be a large push of Broadwings to come and
Wednesday could be a great flight but likely very high on NE winds.
========================================================================
Report submitted by Dave Brown ([email protected])
Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch information may be found at:
http://www.ezlink.on.ca/~thebrowns/HawkCliff/index.htm
Site Description:
The Hawk Cliff Hawk watch is located just east of Port Stanley on the cliff
overlooking Lake Erie. Over the years the Hawk Cliff site has grown in
popularity and today it is recognized as one of the prime fall migration
hawk watching destinations in North America.
Every year hundreds of birders (and non-birders!) from Canada, the U.S.
and other countries visit the site. Knowledgeable volunteers are always on
hand to assist visitors with raptor identification and to raise public
awareness on the subject of raptor migration.
Birders can normally expect to see some 15 different raptor species with
typical count totals reaching several thousand birds per day. The count
season is from September 1st to November 30th.
On a few exceptional occasions lucky visitors have witnessed the amazing
spectacle of over 100,000 raptors of various species migrating past Hawk
Cliff in a single day!
Hawk Cliff hawkwatch is a great location for visitors to come to learn
about raptors and their migration. We cater to school groups, and will
arrange to provide special live bird demos for the kids (if possible)
depending on the day's flight.
Please visit the Hawk Cliff Foundation website listed above for more
detailed information and special events.
Directions to site:
>From east 401, take the Highbury south cut off at London, follow Highbury
(Hwy 30) south to St. Thomas. Highbury changes into South Edgeware at a
large curve in the road to the west. Follow South Edgeware west to the
first set of traffic lights - Burwell Road, turn left (south) and stay on
this road. It becomes Fairview Ave (Regional Road 22), which runs directly
into Hawk Cliff Road. You will see a sign for Hawkes Cliff Farm, where they
sell fresh vegetables and a gravel road just beyond sign. Just continue
down gravel road to viewing area.
>From west 401, take the Highway # 4 (Colonel Talbot Rd.) exit south,
through Talbotville, road now is Sunset Rd. continue towards St. Thomas;
you will come to a veer in the road, straight up to St. Thomas, veer to the
right for Port Stanley, follow Highway 4, now Sunset to Port Stanley. As
you approach Port Stanley you will come to a large curve in the road with
a sign saying East St, to the left. Take East St., and follow it to the
first road left, (opposite Port Stanley Water Tower) Dexter Line. Follow
Dexter Line approximately 2 km. and turn right down gravel road at Hawkes
Cliff Farm, and follow gravel road to viewing area
_______________________________________________
ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial
birding organization.
Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected]
For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
